One Police Plaza

Koch
For Kelly

Former Mayor Ed Koch says he wants the city’s next mayor to be a man
who says he’s not running for the job — Police Commissioner Ray
Kelly.

“I am going to support him,” Koch said in a telephone interview. “If
he runs — and I think he will — I am for him.”

Koch issued what could be a public nudge to Kelly, apparently withdrawing,
or at least suspending, his prior support for the expected candidacy of city
comptroller William Thompson.

Although Mayor Mike Bloomberg has hinted that Kelly would be a worthy successor,
Koch is the first unequivocal blue chip endorsement the police commissioner
has received.

For what it is worth, his endorsement was offered without consulting Kelly,
said Koch’s former press secretary, George Arzt. Arzt added that Koch
hasn’t spoken to Kelly in some time and has never discussed politics
with him.

“Most
ex-mayors are for a strong mayor and Koch thinks Kelly would be a strong mayor,” says
Arzt.

Should Kelly run, it is unknown what his party affiliation will be, but Koch,
a Democrat, has crossed party lines in the past.

Should Kelly run, a key question will be who succeeds him as police commissioner.
Koch says Kelly will have to resign within nine months to a year before the
election.

His successor, Koch says, “will probably be someone within the department,
and Bloomberg would probably rely on Kelly’s judgment.”

If that’s the case, Kelly’s successor will probably not be a strong
commissioner. That will be underscored if Kelly is elected mayor. Like his
nemesis Rudy Giuliani, Kelly wouldn’t want his police commissioner to
outshine him.

Kelly’s micromanaging and hog-the-spotlight behavior have characterized
his tenure as P.C. With the possible exception of former CIA operative David
Cohen, Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence, Kelly has emasculated his top
brass. He makes all decisions and takes sole credit for all successes.

Those successes have been major. First, there is the continuing fall in the
crime rate. Equally important, there has been no terrorist attack.

Whether the credit belongs to his counter-terrorism initiatives is unknown
and irrelevant. The fact remains: you can’t beat those results.

Judith, Née Judi. Rudy Giuliani may talk tough to
terrorists and even frighten Russia’s Vladimir Putin. But a recent Vanity
Fair magazine article presents the leading Republican presidential candidate
as putty in the hands of his wife.

The article skewers Judi Nathan, saying she now insists on being called “Judith.” The
magazine also suggests Rudy is already distancing himself from her. Remember
his boast that Judi, oops, Judith, a former nurse, would contribute insights
at cabinet meetings about health matters? Reaction was so negative, Rudy hasn’t
mentioned it since. The Vanity Fair article also suggests that Rudy has physically
begun to distance himself from her when she becomes too pushy and demanding.

On the other hand, Rudy’s supporters point out it was Judi/Judith who
back in the day helped nurse Rudy through his prostate cancer after his then
wife Donna Hanover allegedly made life so miserable for him at Gracie Mansion
that he turned up at his friend Howard Koeppel’s apartment, suitcase
in hand and with no money in the bank.

Dead Board Stupid. A couple of years ago, this column referred
to the CCRB as “Dead Board Walking” after Mayor Bloomberg
allowed Kelly to flaunt the city charter amendment that mandates the NYPD cooperate
with the CCRB in its investigations.

Now we’ll call the CCRB “Dead Board Stupid.” Last week it
criticized the actions of two cops who responded to a Brooklyn laundromat where
two female employees had locked themselves inside and called 911, saying they
saw a menacing man outside. When the cops arrived, they spotted a homeless
man running away, caught up to him, patted him down and released him.

Memo to the CCRB: What would you expect the cops to do?

The Board also criticized Chief of Department Joe Esposito for cursing at Hasidic
Jews while attempting to quell a mini-riot.

Memo to CCRB: Four-letter words are part of police officers’ DNA. Even
chiefs’.

Chicago. For the second time in four years, a former top
NYPD official is in contention to head the Chicago police department. Once
again, it appears he won’t get the job.

This time,
it’s ex-NYPD Chief Thomas Belfiore, who now heads Westchester County’s
police department. He was one of three finalists until Chicago Mayor Richard
Daley announced last week that he wants to expand the search.

Four years
ago, former Deputy Commissioner Garry McCarthy made Chicago’s short list
but got no further. He now heads Newark’s police department, where by
all accounts he’s making the best of an impossible situation.